


spinner weaving tales

by synergies



Series: fakiru week 2018 [2]
Category: Princess Tutu
Genre: + a side of autor, F/M, and some brief mentions of rue?? and maybe mytho, i can't remember but what up!! some roleswap for y'all
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-26
Updated: 2018-09-26
Packaged: 2019-07-17 18:00:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,931
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16100861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/synergies/pseuds/synergies
Summary: If she cannot have a happy ending then— instead, he will forge one for her.





	spinner weaving tales

### ( beware; you may tangle yourself up in the story too )

_**i. Raven** _

It’s not fair, Fakir thinks. It’s not fair that the story has forced her to give up in the name of their ‘happiness’. It’s not the fair that the rest of them get to be ‘happy’ while she… suffers? He doesn’t think she’s unhappy with the way things turned out, no, but he doesn’t think she’s as good at acting happy as Ahiru thinks she is. Maybe he’s wrong and selfishly just reading into something that doesn’t exist so he has a reason ( but this is one of those moments where he doesn’t think he’s that wrong, that he knows how to read her well enough to know that much ).

It’s not fair, he thinks, so he sets about to give her it— to change the story enough so she can have what she has more than deserved.

The only question is how to go about such; writing the story from scratch or trying to change it too much, his skill is not quite honed enough for him to risk trying to tackle that. Autor makes sure that he reminds him of that fact when he catches onto what Fakir is trying to do; a warning, but not an intervention ( if anything, it is encouragement, even if he has his own selfish motives in doing so ). No, if he tries to take on too much, he will make things worse, follow in the path of his ancestor and he refuses to end up like that.

So a change in roles, perhaps, is what he needs to do, perhaps— going back to roles will help him shape the story she deserves.

He writes a story about a girl ( no, not a girl, a duck ); an ugly duckling taken in— stolen by a ruthless raven, who gives her promises of being a lovely swan, becoming a lovely swan princess to be loved by an equally lovely swan prince ( naive child, she would eat up every lie so willingly, without knowing no better about what cruel fate awaits her ).

And while Fakir watches words form on parchment, he thinks of the raven girl, so very sharp and callous just like him... and yet, not; that girl retained a softness that he does not, and that is their difference ( he is not sure whether he envies her or pities her for that ). He knows ruby eyes that bore into him— that would bore into him if she knew what he was doing.

In the end, he knows he cannot ruin her like— like the story surely would if he continued to write it the way it is currently being written—

And perhaps it is for a selfish reason, but, raven princess ends up with a swan prince—

( He cannot be her prince ).

He tosses his papers into the fireplace after contemplating his choices— really, was risking ruining any of this worth it? No, Ahiru does not deserve that, so he’ll put it any personal opinions aside and try something else, instead.

( He does not notice that a few of her feathers have started to darken when she comes to bug him because he’s been writing too long— in turn, she chooses not to notice the tugging feeling of a story pulling her along ).

* * *

_**ii. Knight** _

So if it is not the role of a raven she plays, then, perhaps she can be a knight—

Ahiru, for all her lack in willingness to fight, possesses an incredible amount of strength— and he does not mean just physically.

He may not be a good knight for anyone, but her— her, she could beat their expectations, probably, be a much better knight than Fakir could have ever hoped to be, but… but can he write her a knight? How can he write a role that he could not even fulfill himself?

Oh, she is strong, stronger than she thinks, and stronger than anyone he knows, even if she does not think so; and he knows the burden of his role too well, he watched it warp him away into something less than human, and sure— he does not think she would let the story make her into such a wicked thing, nor would he let it to that to her, but—

( But what if, he thinks numbingly. He cannot protect her— he never could. Not with a sword, not with paper and ink. If something happened, then... perhaps, Ahiru could save herself, but he thinks that’s a pretty big risk to take ).

He reads over his writing of a girl who tries and tries and keeps trying to live up to her role, who tries to keep people safe ( who fears the day she has to hurt someone )— a girl who speaks with no eloquence, writing of chicken scratch that is nearly as bad, but she is sincere, she is hopeful, and that is why she will succeed in the end, Fakir thinks ( or hopes, really— but what if he ruins her happiness by trying to write such a thing? What if he is the foolish one here, getting his hopes up? )

Hesitation strikes, once he falters, he knows he will not succeed in finishing writing this story properly.

So, another couple of days worth of planning is dumped into the fireplace, running his fingers through her feathers while she naps.

* * *

“Princess!” She calls, tears biting at her eyes ( what a weakness— weak— what a coward you are ). “Rue! You need to come back!”

It is not a command, but more of plea; a gentle, genuine sort of noise that carries ( don’t cry— don’t cry— this is not the time to show weakness ). And oh, she does not think her emotions are a weakness ( or at least, something tells her to feel that way— but she has so much to prove and so much to lose from all this ).

She readies her lance and charges in; distantly, she wishes at a time like this she was less alone.

( Ahiru decides not to mention her dreams when she wakes up, but she can’t help but think of a life where she was a little stronger, words flowing from her fingers almost as easily as they did from her tongue, little fox nipping at her heels as she ran forwards into the future— the next adventure ).

* * *

_**iii. Prince** _

A role of royalty suits her a little too well— perhaps it is because she held Tutu’s role, perhaps it is because her kindness reminds him of Mytho quite well; but it is the role he is least willing to write, so it takes him a little while before he tries to make an effort to get into it.

It’s the sensible choice if he’s trying to stick to their roles, Autor informs him; while they search for a stories about princesses— a cursed princess, in particular. Cursed royalty is apparently a somewhat common recurring theme in stories, so it seems like a good reference point if he’d like to write something perhaps a little less horrendous than piercing one’s own heart, but still close enough that the story will allow the change. So Autor says, anyhow, and Fakir will let him be maybe correct this time, if only because he cannot— cannot imagine her, Ahiru, not-girl who lives expressing every extreme emotion, in a dollesque state like Mytho had been ( however, he does not doubt that she too would try to give up her everything to save the rest of them, which is admittedly part of why he did not want to write her into this role ).

Sleeping princesses, royalty cursed into animals, and more— they are close, but they don’t quite fit her at all, it leaves such a bitter taste on his tongue, and—

He starts an attempt, he honestly, truthfully does, despite whatever reluctance he might have about writing this because— sure, it might be some part of his own selfish wishes, but in the end Fakir is writing for her sake, not his, so he does make an effort to try. He ends up giving up when he realizes he cannot figure out where to place the rest of them— he tries letting the story flow on its own for a bit but— knight, he cannot be the knight for her—

He returns home to find her nosing about his papers ( ah, she means well, he’s sure, but— this is why he always ends up throwing his bad drafts in the fireplace, Ahiru ); she seems guilty to have been caught, but... he has been secretive about what he’s been working on, so he cannot really blame her. He reads some of it for her to make up for that fact ( omitting the fact that he had been writing about her ), before he tosses it too into the fire, to join the ashes of other not quite good enough drafts

( Besides— Ahiru’s smart, he’s sure she knows who he’s been writing about without him even saying a word ).

* * *

_**iv. Duck** _

“Have you considered,” Autor speaks while glancing over his latest attempts, an effort to figure out where he is going wrong, while Fakir sorts through another collection of books for the sake of finding more things to read over. “That for once, the issue isn’t about what you’re writing, but whom?”

Oh. It feels a little like a slap in the face to hear him say that, but he opts to not voice his thoughts on that. It is not, perhaps, an entirely wrong way of thinking, but he does not like thinking Autor is right when it comes to things like this ( so any sense of agreement is stifled by his pride, response not much more than a noncommittal grunt ). There’s a brief pause before he shakes his head, skimming through the book in his hand before putting it aside. Not useful to his research, but he thinks Ahiru might like to read it ( rather, for him to read it to her ).

“I’ll keep it in mind.” He relents, in the end. “But I don’t think that’s what the problem is here.” Or is it? Sure, he’d think that his inexperience would count for at least part of it— but maybe… maybe it’s been a lost cause from the start? Maybe, now that the story was over, she was out of reach for him.

( No, the storybook may have an ending, but the town still marched onwards, and she— her story was not over yet, was it? )

So maybe he was wrong about sticking to roles— or maybe he just needs to try a different take on them. Or maybe he was wrong and clinging onto a false hope, but—

But first, maybe he needs to speak with the one he’s trying to write.

* * *

_**v. Girl** _

Her first several attempts at speaking again are rather incoherent— her voice is rusty and raw, and his writing is not enough to make the transition seamless for her ( but, Ahiru has never had to depend solely on words to get her point across— the general expressiveness in her body language tells him that she is happy... the several pecks to his cheek also help get the point across ).

It is not a permanent solution— something which she seems to prefer, and considering that had been the original condition for her to enter into the story, it seems like the story is more willing to comply with him. It’s not perfect, but it’s enough; he thinks that is what counts, and that is what makes his efforts worth it.

**Author's Note:**

> this is for day two of fakiru week!! i was originally going to do an actual loose retelling of an actual fairytale, but i ended up shuffling things around and doing some roleswap for today's theme instead! that's kind of a loose version of retelling, haha.
> 
> since this is my own variation on roleswap, i'll include a few notes to contextualize things ( but not everything, since i'd like to revisit it some point in the future... if people would be interested in it i guess ):  
> >> in the roleswap where she's the raven's daughter, ahiru's still a duck in that variation. the main difference here is that she was separated as a baby and teased by some of the other birds. raven swoops in to steal this pure of heart baby bird and decides to use her as a pawn to get to the prince, via giving her some of his power to retain human form.  
> >> in the knight roleswap, she definitely carries a lot of the same emotional baggage as fakir does, but handles her emotions a bit better than he does. she refers to rue as rue because in this variation of the prince and the raven, the prince(sses) name is given, kraehe. however, ahiru couldn't pronounce kraehe too well as a child > she shortened it into rue ( and ofc no capacity to say no to shit )  
> >> in the prince roleswap, i was pretty vague on details bc i couldn't find a good way to tie shit in. the 'curse' aspect is, besides the 'sealing away your heart' scenario is that she's also a swan.


End file.
